Defective bulb segregating apparatus



Dec. 14, 1954 E. STRNAD ETAL 2,696,909

DEFECTIVE BULB SEGREGATING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 1Fi cgl.

IT7VT7tOFSZ Emanuel, S trnad, WiLLiam D. Ha=lrcher, d1". b5 Wr- A The'nA'htorneg.

Dec. 14, 1954 E. STRNAD ETAL 2,696,909

DEFECTIVE BULB SEGREGATING APPARATUS Filed May 28, 1953 2 Sheets-Sheet 2p54 3v FAQ-4. 3 2

Inven L'ovs: Emanuet S krnad, WiLLiam D. Ha tcher, JTT, by W C K Their At'i'ovney.

, ,696 909 nEFEe Iv BULB EGREG W APPARATUS.

Emanuel Strnadand William. D, Hatcher, .Iiu, Lexington, Ky., assignorsto General Electric Company, a corpo r tt n f New o Application May 28,1953, Serial No. 358,118

9 Claims. (Cl. zosfso Our invention relates to apparatus; for removingbroken glass bulbs and like articles from conveying means, and moreparticularly to apparatus for. selecting and discard: ing from aconveyor bulbs having broken neck portions.

'One object of our invention is to provide automatically operatedapparatus for preventing bulbs or like vitreous articles having brokenneck portions from being advanced to frosting machines orotherapparatus. The apparatus effects the removal of broken bulbs in thecourse of their movement along a conveyor and thus eliminates the needfor the services of an operator. In the instance where the apparatus isused in combination with a conveyor for carrying said bulbs to afrosting machine, the removal of the broken bulb permits thesubstitution of a complete bulb in it's place and avoids damage whichwould result from frosting material discharging freely through thebroken bulb portion.

Another object of our invention is to provide apparatus for removingbulbs having broken neck portions from a conveyor wherein said bulbs areheld in suspendednegk; down positions in trays or between support rails.

In an embodiment of our invention, the apparatus is arranged along pathsof movement of rows of'bulbssus pended in neck-down positions inopenings in trays or between support rails of a conveyor and iscomprised of suction means located over said paths for lifting bulbsfrom said openings or from between said rails, and other means locatedbelow said trays and rails for preventing complete bulbs with undamagednecks from being lifted therefrom. This latter means may comprise pairsof sta: tionary bars defining a restricted path of movement which issufiiciently wide to permit smaller intermediate portions of the bulb.necks to pass therebetween but'is narrower than the diameter of thelower flared ends of the bulb necks. Accordingly, all normal bulbs willbe prevented from being drawn upward into the suction means, because theflared ends of the bulbs are too large to pass between the stationarybars, whereas bulbs with damaged or miss: ing flared ends (so-calledcullet'portions.) are not blocked from vertical movement by the bars andare drawn into the suction means. The suction means may, for instance,be comprised of a manifold slit along its length and. ar: ranged toextend across several parallel paths of movement of bulbs, or. it maycomprise individual tubes arranged to extend over each of said severalpaths. The broken bulbs are conducted by the manifold to a refusecontainer having a suction fan adjacent one end thereof, and areseparated from the air flow therein so as to collect upon the bottom ofthe refuse container. The split type manifold has the advantage that itcan be used properly with a large variety and sizes of bulbs; however,it requires a larger capacity suction fan than a manifold with in:dividual tubes which are normally tailored to suit the bulbs beingremoved. A further feature effecting the economy of operation of theapparatus is the construction of the bulb holding trays or rails as theairflow has more lift upon the bulb when the trays and rails are made assolid as possible so as to restrict the flow of air tothe area aroundthe upper portion of the bulbs.

In the drawing, Fig. l is a side elevation of broken lamp bulb removingapparatus of our invention, which apparatus isparticularly suited toremove specific sizes of bulbs from rows of openings. in the trays of aconveyor shown in section."

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sa e. eva on, rr sp n in to F Q a th r mo ifi a on of: the. appa atus,

The apparatus, as shown in Figs. 1. and 2; ofi-the drawing, is. adaptedto be mounted along thecourse of move; ment of the bulb holding trays ofa conveyor which may be of the type shown in. the. disclosure of a bulbtraying machine in Patent 21,439,833, 6-. A. Brown et al-., which isassigned to, the assignee of the, present invention. The. apparatus, as.shown in Fig. 3, is adaptedto. be mounted along the bulb conveying beltsare feeding and storage means, as for instance, the bulb.conveying'belts. of: the bulb traying machine disclosed in saidaforesaid patent.

When the broken bulb. removing apparatus is arranged for use with thetray type conveyor. as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, it is'located at anoperativeposition along the path of movement of bulb holding trays I,said pathbeing determined by rollers 2; on stationary rails 3 atoppositesides thereof; Each of; the series of bulb. holding trays 1 sup: ports arelatively large number'of bulbs 4-correspondingly suspended on theshoulders of a number of rows of openings therein and, in the course ofmovement along said path, advances a transverse row of bulbs 41 tooperative relation to 'the' broken bulb removing apparatus; whichextends trz tnsversely'across 'saidg path: at one point therealong'. Asthe" bulbs t 'c'sme'tmo' alignment with saidapparatus the smallerintermediate portions or the necks summer pass b'etvveenpa'irs ofstationary bars '6 which are spaced apart'a distar'ice onl-y slightlylarger than the diameters of'saidinterrnediate portions of the bulbnecks.- The bulbs. 4 are 'thus effectively locked in the openings in thetrays l inasmuch as'the ends "I of thebulb" necks 5, whichare lowermost,flare outwardly andthe bulbs therefore cannotbe pulled upwardbetween'the station ary'bars 6-. e a s. 6 r mou ed l n pe s 8: extendingbvvard from a stationary cross member 9 located below the pa h of movment f th trays 1 and h i Po o bye portion of the frame, (not shown)v ofthe 'convevor.

In their course of movement'between the bars 6, a transverse row ofthebulbs4. is carried into alignment with a series of branch ducts orsuction tubes 10 arranged across the path of movement ofthe trays 1. Thesuction tubes 10 tend, to pull the bulbs upward and out of the trays 1.Complete, or acceptable, bulbs. 4, will be held in. the tray. 1 by thebars 6, and carriedbeyond-the suction tubes 1 l- H we r bulbs. whicmplet 1- defeetive by virtue of missing or partially broken flared. ends7, are sucked up into the tubes l0, The; suction a tthe mouths of thetubes ltlis concentrated about the rounded tops of thebulbs 4 by virtueofthe fact that the mouths of the tubes 10 are only slightly largerthanthe bulbs 4; and are of concave curvature to ex'tend down along thesides. of saidbul-bs so that a passag'eway conformin.g. 'genera- 1v tothe shape of said bulbs-{l is formed.

Broken bulks; 4 sucked up the tubes, or. conduits 1!) are carried into aconnecting, conduit or} manifold. l land then longitudinally throughsaid manifold 11 to the uuper end or a refuse. containerll wherethey-fall toa collect; ing point on the bottom 13 thereof. The suctionforce by which the. broken bulbs are carried into the tubes It) and theresulting currents. ofair. by which said bulbs: are movedthrough the.manifold 11 to the refuse container. 1- 2 are produced by the, suctionforce. of a blower 141mnected' to an upnerportion. of the refusecontainer 12 at a point onposite'the manifold- 11.

It will, of course. be apparent that eachtof the twelve suction tubes-,1.0.whichspan (the twelve longitudinal rows of bulbs}! ac'r ssv the travlmustreceive apresoni nne share q h -suction. f r' ep u ed by.- helblbwer' 1 an assaulted-ri ses b .49.. its?! ance between the ends ofbulbs 4 and the suction tubes farthest from the container 12 thanbetween the bulbs 4 and tubes 10 near the container 12 to cause theproper suction over every row of bulbs 4. The suction tubes 10 areconnected to the curved sidewalls of said manifold 11 in a manner whichallows pieces of the bulbs 4 to fall to the sloping bottom of saidmanifold 11 and to be swept down said bottom to the refuse container 12by the combined forces of the air currents and gravity. Further controlover the direction of movement of the broken glass is provided by abaflle 15 in the refuse container 12, which baffle 15 causes the airstream to pass downward along one side of the container 12 and thenreverse its direction to a path upward along the opposite side thereofso that the broken bulbs 4 separate therefrom. After an appreciable massof glass accumulates in said container 12, it is removed therefromthrough an opening formed by sliding the bottom 13 to one side. Thecontainer 12 is mounted upon a frame portion 16 joining one of theconveyor support rails 3 and one end of the cross number 9.

In the modified form of apparatus for operation with the conveyor beltsof the traying machine, said apparatus is located at operative relationto rows of bulbs 4 resting upon and conveyed by the moving belts 20shown in Fig. 3. The motion of the belts 20 carry the intermediate neckportions 5 of the bulbs 4 between stationary angle bars 6' definingpaths of movement only slightly wider than the necks 5 and at the sametime carry the tops of said bulbs below the open ends of suction tubes10 connected to a manifold 11'. The bars 6 which define the path ofmovement of the bulb necks 5 are, in the present instance, mounted uponthe stationarysnpport uprights 21 for the guide bars 22 for the belts20. As in the previously described apparatus, the suction lifts brokenbulbs 4 from the conveyor only when the flared necks or cullet portions7 have been broken so that they are not retained by the bars 6.

The modified broken bulb removing apparatus shown in Figs. 4 and 5 ofthe drawing represents one form thereof adapted to operatesatisfactorily with but little adjustment for removing a considerablerange of sizes and shapes of bulbs from either tray or belt-typeconveyors. The rows of bulbs 4,in this specific instance, pass below thelongitudinal slit in a conduit or manifold 31 and if broken are pulledup into said manifold 31 and into the refuse container 32 by the suctionforce of a blower 34 attached thereto. Because of the large size of theopening formed by the slit 30, considerably more suction force must beused than in the previously described modification, and therefore theeffectiveness of the suction about the mouth of the slit 30 is desirablymade as great as possible. It is, therefore, preferred that the trays 1be solid except for the bulb-holding openings so that air drawn into theslit 30 sweeps about the upper end of the bulbs 4 in a manner to giveconsiderable lift thereto. It is also preferred that the manifold 31 besupported in a manner whereby it can be raised or lowered to the mosteffective relation to the bulbs 4 in the trays 1. To this end, themanifold 31 is mounted at opposite ends upon support rods 35 which areadjusted in the stationary frame 36 for the tray conveyor by screwingthe nuts 37 therealon Tl e modified form of apparatus shown in Fig. 6 isfeatured by flexible curtains 38 and 39 on the opposite lower edges ofan open branch duct 40 extending along the length of a conduit ormanifold 41. The curtains 38 and 39, which may be made from asbestoscloth, permit the suction within the manifold 41 to lift the bulbs 4more effectively in that they block off the flow of air around the topand between the bulbs 4 as much as possible. The vertical front of theduct 40 also promotes more satisfactory use of the apparatus in that itprevents a loose bulb resting on top of the properly arranged bulbs 4 inthe tray 1 from wedging below the manifold 41.

While we have described several embodiments of the invention, we do notwish to be limited to the particular structure shown as it will beunderstood that many modifications of the apparatus may be made withoutdeparting from the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

1. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support andconvey a horizontal suc- 4 cession of bulbs by their bowl portions sothey hang neck down, means including suction conduit means terminatingat a point above said conveyor means in a position to draw the bulbsupward out of the conveyor means and leading away therefrom, restrainingmeans below the terminus of said conduit and below said conveyor anddefining a horizontal constricted passageway located to receive theconstricted neck portions of said bulbs and having a width intermediatethe diameters of said neck portions and the enlarged end portions ofsaid bulbs whereby to restrain removal of complete bulbs from theconveyor means by said suction conduit and whereby broken bulbs withpartly or completely missing enlarged end portions are free to be pulledup into the conduit.

2. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support andconvey a horizontal succession of bulbs by their bowl portions so theyhang neck down, means including suction conduit means terminating at apoint above the conveyor means in a position to draw the bulbs upwardout of the conveyor means and leading away therefrom, means mounting theconduit means for vertical adjustment to permit the terminus thereof tobe arranged as close as possible to the tops of the bulbs advanced bythe conveyor means, restraining means below the terminus of said conduitand below said conveyor means and defining a horizontal constrictedpassageway located to receive the constricted neck portions of saidbulbs and having a width intermediate the diameters of said neckportions and the enlarged end portions of said bulbs whereby to restrainremoval of complete bulbs from the conveyor means by said suctionconduit and whereby broken bulbs with partly or completely missingenlarged end portions are free to be pulled up into the conduit.

3. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support ahorizontal succession of a plurality of rows of bulbs by their bowlportions so they hang neck down, means including suction producing meansand a relatively large interconnected manifold extending transverselyacross and above the path of said conveyor means and having smallerbranch ducts only slightly larger than the bowl portions of the bulbsextending downwardly from said manifold to positions above therespective rows of bulbs in said conveyor means to draw the bulbs upwardout of the conveyor means and away therefrom, means below the severalbranch ducts and below said conveyor means and defining horizontalconstricted passageways located to receive the constricted neck portionsof said bulbs and each having a width intermediate the diameters of saidneck portions and the enlarged end portions of said bulbs whereby torestrain removal of complete bulbs from the conveyor means into saidducts and whereby broken bulbs with partly or completely missingenlarged end portions are free to be pulled up into the ducts.

4. in apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support ahorizontal succession of bulbs by their bowl portions so they hang neckdown, means including suction conduit means terminating at a point abovesaid conveyor means at a position to draw the bulbs upward out of theconveyor means and away therefrom and having flexible skirts hangingdown from the terminus thereof into the path of movement of the bulbs torestrict the passage of air thereabout, restraining means below theterminus of said conduit and below said conveyor means and defining ahorizontal constricted passageway located to receive the constrictedneck portions of said bulbs and having a width intermediate thediameters of said neck portions and the enlarged end portions of saidbulbs whereby to restrain removal of complete bulbs from the conveyormeans by said conduit means and whereby broken bulbs with partly orcompletely missing enlarged end portions are free to be pulled up intothe conduit means.

5. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support ahorizontal succession of bulbs by their bowl portions so they hang neckdown,

means including suction conduit means terminating in a mouth portiononly slightly larger than and curved in conformity closely with the bowlportions of the bulbs and located above said conveyor means at aposition to draw the bulbs upward out of the conveyor means and awaytherefrom, means below the conduit means and below said conveyor meansand defining a horizontal constricted passageway located to receive theconstricted neck portions of said bulbs and having a width intermediatethe diameters of said neck portions and the enlarged end portions ofsaid bulbs whereby to restrain removal of complete bulbs from theconveyor means by said conduit means and whereby broken bulbs withpartly or completely missing enlarged end portions are free to be pulledup into the conduit means.

6. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means comprising horizontal trayspresenting a solid surface pierced by longitudinal rows of openingsadapted to hold bulbs in a neck down position with their bowl portionsresting on the rims of said openings, means including a suction manifoldextending transversely across and above said conveyor means and having a1011- gitudinal slit along the bottom thereof to draw the bulbs upwardout of the conveyor means and away therefrom, restraining means belowthe manifold and below said conveyor means and defining horizontalconstricted passageways located to receive the constricted neck portionsof said bulbs and each having a width intermediate the diameters of saidneck portions and the enlarged end portions of said bulbs whereby torestrain removal of complete bulbs from the conveyor means by saidmanifold and whereby broken bulbs with partly or completely missingenlarged end portions are free to be pulled up into the manifold.

7. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support aplurality of horizontal rows of bulbs by their bowl portions so theyhang neck down, means for drawing the bulbs upward out of the conveyormeans and away therefrom including suction producing means and aninterconnected manifold extending transversely across said conveyormeans and having flexible skirts hanging down into the path of movementof the bowl portions of the bulbs from the edges of a longitudinalopening along the bottom thereof to restrict the passage of air intosaid opening from between the rows of bulbs, retaining means below themanifold and below the conveyor means and defining horizontalconstricted passageways located to receive the constricted neck portionsof said bulbs and each having a width 1n- 6 termediate the diameters ofsaid neck portions and the enlarged end portions of said bulbs wherebyto restrain removal of complete bulbs from the conveyor means by saidmanifold and whereby broken bulbs with partly or completely missingenlarged end portions are free to be pulled up into the manifold.

8. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support aplurality of horizontal rows of bulbs by their bowl portions so theyhang neck down, means including suction producing means and a manifoldextending transversely across the conveyor means and a plurality oftubes extending downward from said manifold toward said conveyor meanswith each tube having its mouth arranged above a row of bulbs in aposition to draw the bulbs upward out of the conveyor means and into themanifold, retaining means below the manifold and below the conveyormeans and defining horizontal constricted passageways located to receivethe constricted neck portions of said bulbs and each having a widthintermediate the diameters of said neck portions and the enlarged endportions of said bulbs whereby to restrain removal of complete bulbsfrom the conveyor means by said suction tubes and whereby broken bulbswith partly or completely missing enlarged end portions are free to bepulled up into the tubes.

9. In apparatus for segregating bulbs having bowl portions withdepending constricted neck portions terminating in enlarged endportions, the combination of conveyor means adapted to support aplurality of horizontal rows of bulbs by their bowl portions so theyhang neck down, suction means including a manifold inclined to thehorizontal and extending transversely across the conveyor means withbranch ducts extending downwardly from a side of the manifold topositions over rows of bulbs to-draw said bulbs upward out of theconveyor means and into the manifold, retaining means below the manifoldand below the conveyor means and defining horizontal constrictedpassageways located to receive the constricted neck portions of saidbulbs and each having a width intermediate the diameters of said neckportions and the enlarged end portions of said bulbs whereby to restrainremoval of complete bulbs from the conveyor means by said suction meansand whereby broken bulbs with partly or completely missing enlarged endportions are free to be pulled up into the suction means.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NameDa

